I don't know what's causing that, but there are some ways to narrow down the possibilities. See if the issue occurs with all plugins disabled. See if it occurs with an older engine build. Verify there are no issues if the "Bloom Effects" rendering option is disabled, but the rest of the settings are the same. Lastly, post a screenshot to remove any confusion on precisely what you're seeing, as well as your operating system.

When I read the post, this is what I thought it was about. I notice these squares only on the AR and they are not always orange. I've looked all through my preferences tab options on Eternal and could find no mention of bloom. I haven't checked the others (1, 2, I, TI, etc) but don't ever remember seeing anything about bloom. I presumed it meant the flashes when the bullets struck something as with the ringlets and gear shaped objects in the attached screen shots.

I attached screenies from Marathon 2, Infinity, and Rubicon X for reference. As far as I know of it only happens with level geometry and skybox textures.

@HelviusRufus: I believe Eternal is packaged with an older Aleph One executable that doesn't have certain OpenGL options like bloom. (Alternatively you may be using the OpenGL Classic renderer instead of the Shader renderer.)

And if I had to guess, I would think the problem demonstrated in those screenshots has something to do with the rendering of partial transparency, as those yellow rectangles are the size of the partially-transparent sprites being drawn there, just with yellow instead of transparent.

As you say, I use classic because if I use shader the backgrounds/landscapes disappear (see screenshots).I've never seen the big squares in your screenshots. (Well, I've seen them, but only in your screenshots not anywhere else).

@PfhorrestIn gameplay, I interpret it as my visor enhancing my view by showing me a coverage pattern because of the infamous inaccuracy of the AR...

I think the colorful square effect might have to do with the image transparency. Here's rubicon without blooms, but as you may notice there are square boxes around the projectiles. Interestingly though the original marathon scenarios didn't have this problem.

treellama wrote:HelviusRufus: you clearly have some non-Eternal plugin installed; as far as I know, Eternal X doesn't come with high-res ricochet effects like in your screenshot.

3371-Alpha: you too have some MML installed that isn't compatible with Rubicon. Transparent_Sprites.mml?

Aha! He said as he read that. But alas! All o the plugins except Eternal GUI and Eternal HUD were disabled. Then he reads the part to 3371-Alpha and again says Aha! Goes and looks in AlephOne folder's Scripts folder at Lo! There is Transparent_Sprites.mml! He quickly banishes the file and Behold! The colorful little squares are gone from Eternal. Thanks Treellama.

This is a wonderful place, you can learn a lot here, I may have to alter my signature line. Researching the game save problem, I discovered a hidden folder filled with ----- preferences files. I read all of them. Thought about it. Then with the aid of Notepad, I now have this program running again! How come only one fist? And a left one at that? Are you always considered to be holding a weapon even when you're punching 'em?

And if I had to guess, I would think the problem demonstrated in those screenshots has something to do with the rendering of partial transparency, as those yellow rectangles are the size of the partially-transparent sprites being drawn there, just with yellow instead of transparent.

Hmmmm, so a hardware or software issue then? I'm trying to find out so I can figure out whether this is fixable or not.

BrogFlasting wrote:That seems to have fixed those problems but I still have those massive bright rectangles from level geometry and skybox textures, so it seems to be a different problem.

Yep that does seem to be different, and I don't have a solution here. We used to recommend AMD or Nvidia graphics in Windows because the Intel OpenGL drivers were so terrible. I've been out of touch so I don't know if that's still the case.

BrogFlasting wrote:That seems to have fixed those problems but I still have those massive bright rectangles from level geometry and skybox textures, so it seems to be a different problem.

Yep that does seem to be different, and I don't have a solution here. We used to recommend AMD or Nvidia graphics in Windows because the Intel OpenGL drivers were so terrible. I've been out of touch so I don't know if that's still the case.

I'll guess that's the problem and get back to ya'll when/if I get a newer, better computer.